The present invention relates to surgical attachments for positioning a patient for surgical procedures and particularly to a shoulder surgery attachment for a surgical table.
Surgical procedures on the shoulders of patients are often preformed with the patients in the so called beach-chair position. In the beach-chair position, a patient is positioned in a sitting position during surgery, although the patient may be anesthetized in a supine line position.
There are presently a number of devices used for positioning patients in the beach-chair position as an accessory for common place surgical tables. As examples, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,859, issued to Schaefer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,406, issued to Van Steenburg et al. and US Application Publication No. 2006/0103226 in the name of Wong et al.
There are, however, problems with current surgical beach-chairs which include inadequate head, neck and torso support, ease of cleanliness and improper sizing. Existing designs fail to provide adequate back, neck and head support, or where support is provided it is difficult to use and cumbersome. Other problems include the use of flat pads for back support which can result in patient's sliding and spinal stresses and stresses to the neck resulting in possible neurabraxia, airway blockage or other damages.